Friend of exotic-animal owner writes book about killings

Jan. 23, 2013
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John Moore co-wrote "Eighteen Days to the Massacre," a self-published book about his friend Terry Thompson and the days leading up to Thompson's release of his exotic animals near Zanesville, Ohio. / (Zanesville, Ohio) Times Recorder

by Kathy Thompson, (Zanesville, Ohio) Times Recorder

by Kathy Thompson, (Zanesville, Ohio) Times Recorder

ZANESVILLE, Ohio - A friend of Terry Thompson, who was called to the exotic-animal owner's property the night the man opened his animals' cages and shot himself, has written a book about the ordeal.

Sheriff's deputies killed almost 50 of the tigers, lions, bears and baboons on Oct. 18, 2011, saying public safety was at risk as some of the animals left Thompson's 70 acres near Zanesville, about 55 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, for more populated areas.

"I want people to know not just how Terry really was, but exactly happened that night," John Moore said. "I wanted the truth out."

Moore and Teresa Headley, a friend and a counselor at Ohio University, wrote Eighteen Days to the Massacre (CreateSpace), a self-published book about the days right before Thompson committed suicide, after he was released from federal prison.

"John was very traumatized by what happened," Headley said. "He was missing classes and depressed. I told him writing the book would be good for him emotionally."

Thompson's widow, Marian Thompson, said late last year that she also is working on a publication that will shed some light on the events of that night. She had been married to Terry Thompson since 1977 but was out of town on business the evening of the massacre, her lawyer has said.

Moore, who helped Terry Thompson feed his animals the night before they were released and also helped care for them previously, discusses how distressed and easily distracted his friend seemed to be when he returned home Sept. 30, 2011, after serving what originally was to be a year and a day in federal prison. Terry Thompson was a Vietnam War veteran and a gun collector with a federal firearms license who had been sentenced in October 2010 for possession of various machine guns and sniper rifles, including eight missing serial numbers.

Moore's account of what happened Oct. 18, 2011, contrasts with official reports.

Moore arrived with a sheriff's deputy at the Thompson farm after receiving numerous phone calls saying animals were loose, he wrote in his book. He moved two lions, Simba Jr. and Mufassa, out of the way before he and the deputy entered the home looking for Terry Thompson.

When they didn't find him, Moore wrote that he and the deputy left the house. Moore then noticed a pair of 15-month-old lionesses, including one named Kenya who was still in a cage.

Moore says he locked that cage and chained it.

"She was terrified and crying as she looked me in the eye, imploring me to help her and make this better," he wrote. Then he saw Pooh, a bear, stuck in the swimming pool behind the house.

"It was like doing triage," Moore wrote. "Who do you help first?"

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said this past week that he ordered any animal that had left the Thompson property or was attempting to leave be killed.

Lutz, who was not at hilltop house that night but was at a command post yards away, said he learned throughout that evening that some animals were in unsecured cages. Those animals also were shot.

Moore discovered his friend lying behind a row of cages with a bullet to his head. An autopsy report later said that Terry Thompson had shot himself.

Solomon, a white Bengal tiger, was lying next to him, shot by deputies trying to get to Terry Thompson's body.

The rest of the night blurred by with gunshots echoing as deputies killed animal after animal, Moore wrote.

"The next thing I know, the farm and the entire surrounding area is like a war zone," he wrote. "Gunfire, animals crying out, Terry gone. I was instantly sick."

Then Moore, who was at the gate of the property trying to tell Lutz and his officers how many animals were there, said he saw deputies head for Kenya's cage.

He panicked, knowing he had locked her in. But he also knew she was going to be killed.

"They killed her right in her cage," Moore wrote. "I was sick, crying."

Lutz said he wasn't on the farm during the shootings but doesn't think any of his deputies shot any animal locked in a cage.

"I rely on my deputies and their reports," he said. "I don't believe that or that any of my people would fabricate or leave out such an important detail. To my knowledge, no animal was shot that was locked up."

Only six of the 56 exotic animals that the Thompsons owned survived that night. They were taken to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and placed under quarantine.

Five of those animals were returned to Marian Thompson late last year. One leopard had to be euthanized after a steel door dropped on its neck while it was being transferred from one cage to another.

Moore waffles between understanding why the animals were killed and thinking that maybe, "just maybe," he could have saved some.

"In hindsight, can I change what happened?" Moore asks. "No. I believe Lutz did what he felt he had to do. I can't imagine being in his shoes that night."

The book also details how Moore misses Terry Thompson, a close friend of almost 20 years.

"I wrote the book to not just get the truth out, but to tell people that Terry was a fun person. He loved to fly. He loved those animals. He taught me so much. I miss him every single day," Moore said.

Moore describes how Terry Thompson, 62, bought a bike the day he was released from prison and rode it 85 miles to his house in the pouring rain, never once asking for assistance or help.

Moore and Headley take literary license in the first chapter in which Terry Thompson describes that journey and his emotional state.

"But we may never know exactly what Terry was thinking that day or the day he let them loose," Moore said.